Not in California
by ynotlleb
Summary: What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?
1. Leonard

**_What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?_**

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January 18th 2008. Dr. Leonard Hofstadter, postdoc in Physics at Princeton University, had just finished work for the week. However, he wasn't looking forward to the weekend as the monthly family lunch was coming. A couple of hours of watching his parents fighting and humiliation from his mother, in the meantime she would shower his brother the lawyer and his sister the medical researcher with praise.

He thought to himself as he left Princeton for the day "I should have gone elsewhere for my postdoc, I could have gone to Caltech but instead I played safe and stayed at home in New Jersey. I wish I was in California."


	2. Sheldon

_**What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?**_

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January 18th 2008. Dr. Sheldon Cooper, theoretical physicist at CERN had his weekly Friday meeting with his boss Professor Schulz.

"Herr Doktor Cooper, thank you for dumbing down your work so your old Professor could understand it. I like the draft of your latest paper, could you let me have a look at the final version before you submit it."

"Of course Professor, is there anything else this week?"

"Do you have any plans for the weekend. Look at the snow on the mountains, I am going skiing, have you ever gone skiing Doktor Cooper? It is great fun."

"Why on earth should I want to do that, it looks like a good way of getting cold and wet."

"Schoenes Wochenende Doktor Cooper, see you next week."

Sheldon went back to his office wondering how someone as stupid as Olaf Schulz was his boss. Sheldon had learned to curb his temper when dealing with "lesser minds". Unlike his boss he hated the cold and the snow. If it hadn't been for losing his temper and insulting the intelligence of Professor Gablehauser he would have got the job at Caltech. Sheldon frequently thought to himself "I wish I was in California."


	3. Penny

_**What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?**_

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January 18th 2008. Penny, single mother of twins left her one year old daughters Rebecca and Sara in the care of her mother as she drove off to work as a waitress at the Omaha Cheesecake Factory.

Four years earlier she had a blazing row with her boyfriend Kurt and he left for California without her, Penny had not heard from him since then. Six months after Kurt's departure she got together with her old high school boyfriend Sam. Six months later they were married, six months after that Penny was pregnant. Sam ran away two months before Penny gave birth, Penny had not heard from him since then.

As Penny drove to work she thought about her life. "It shouldn't have been like this, I was going to California with Kurt to become a movie star. Being a single mother was not part of the plan, I wish I was in California."


	4. Howard

_**What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?**_

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January 18th 2008. Howard Wolowitz, PhD student in Engineering at M.I.T. returned back to his student accommodation after a hard day of studying. As he often did, he thought back to his failed job interview at the JPL in Pasadena.

"Thank you coming Mr. Wolowitz, you are a talented young engineer but this post really needs someone with a doctorate. I suggest that you go back to M.I.T., get yourself a PhD and then apply again in a few years."

Howard then made his daily phone call to his mother

"Hello Mother, it's your little boy again. No I am not at boarding school, I am graduate student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. How are things back home, I miss you, I wish I was in California."


	5. Raj

**_What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?_**

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January 18th 2008. Dr. Rajesh Koothrappali, former postdoc at University of Delhi, came to the end of his tutoring session.

"OK boys, it sounds like your father is here, that ends your lesson for this week. Well done to both of you."

"Hello there young Rajesh"

"Hello Dr. Patel, your boys are doing well learning Physics for their university entrance exams, I think they will have no problems."

"Good to know, can I bring their cousin next week?"

"Provided its a male cousin then that will not be a problem."

"Don't worry Rajesh, I know about your problem with speaking to women. Is your father around today?"

"He is working late at the hospital tonight."

"I will probably see him there tomorrow. See you next week, come on boys, let's go home."

Raj had now finished work for the week, he was now reduced to tutoring male relatives of family friends. A year earlier he had got his PhD from Cambridge University and was hoping to go and work in California. He had been in scientific contact with Professor Martin Okuda from Caltech in the last year of his Cambridge studies. Professor Okuda said that he might be able to arrange a postdoc at Caltech for Raj. Okuda said he was coming to Cambridge for a conference and was looking forward to meeting Raj. However, on the day of their meeting Professor Okuda brought along his colleague Dr. Karen O'Reilly. The meeting was a total failure due to Raj's inability to talk in the presence of Dr. O'Reilly and any chance of a postdoc evaporated. Raj did manage to get a postdoc back home in Delhi but this involved some undergraduate supervision, the job only lasted 2 weeks before Raj was fired.

As he did every day Raj would say to himself "If only I could talk to women, I wish I was in California."


	6. Amy

**_What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?_**

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January 18th 2008. Amy Farrah Fowler, Harvard University PhD student in Neuroscience returned to her student lodging after a hard day of studying. She had walked to the University alone, spent the morning in the laboratory alone, ate her lunch alone, spent the afternoon in the library alone before travelling back alone.

She was typing away on her computer when the phone rang.

"Oh hello there Dad, wonderful to hear your voice. How are things back in good old California? Yes I am still working hard on my PhD, I have started writing up. I need to get a draft chapter finished for a meeting with my PhD supervisor next week. You can tell mother I had my annual date last weekend, it didn't last very long, just like all the others. He was called Howard, a creepy little man studying Engineering at M.I.T. I don't think he wants a girlfriend, he wants a mother substitute. I hope to see you soon, I wish I was in California."


	7. Bernadette

**_What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?_**

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January 18th 2008. Bernadette Rostenkowski, PhD student in microbiology at the University of Chicago was exhausted after a busy afternoon of acting as a Teaching Assistant. She wanted to go home but she had a 3 hour electron microscope session booked for the evening. She carefully walked along the snow covered footpath to the electron optics building, trying not to fall over.

As she walked she thought to herself

"Why did I have to come here to freezing cold Chicago. I could have done my PhD at UCLA, I don't care if it would have meant working as a waitress to pay my way, anything would have been better than this icebox. I wish I was in California."


	8. Stuart

**_What if our TBBT heroes didn't all meet up in California. How would their lives have changed?_**

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January 18th 2008. Stuart Bloom returned to his parents home in Newport, Rhode Island.

"Hello Mother"

"Good evening Stuart, how was work today?"

"Same as usual, I tried to get the spoiled children of rich parents interested in Art, but they spent most of their time playing with their phones."

"Well at least you are using your education for something. Dinner is in half an hour."

"Thank you Mother, I will be in my fortress of solitude."

Stuart went down into the basement to his bedroom which was filled with Comic Books. He took up his sketch pad and doodled looking for inspiration for another picture. He sat down and sighed saying to himself

"What I am doing here in this insignificant little state. I should have bought that Comic Book store in Pasadena, I wish I was in California."


End file.
